


the world at our fingertips

by nicole_writes



Series: Marks that Bind Us (Pokémon Soulmate AUs) [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Contestshipping, F/M, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates May and Drew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 03:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7960654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicole_writes/pseuds/nicole_writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which May finds her Prince Charming, but he’s not exactly what she’s expecting and maybe it takes a few years, but then he’s everything she expects. / contestshipping / maydrew / soulmate au 'names on wrists' / companion to ‘Pieces of a Whole' (on FFN)</p>
            </blockquote>





	the world at our fingertips

May is five when she first learns about soulmate marks. She crawls up into her fathers lap in front of the fire and is playing with his hand when she sees it; there’s a familiar name written on the inside of his wrist in elegant black script. Her eyes are wide and innocent and she touches it. Her father looks down at her, noticing she’s found something. 

“Daddy,” May says, incredibly curious. “Why do you have Mummy’s name on your arm?”

Her dad laughs. “Well May-May, when people are born, they only have half a soul. And somewhere in the world, someone has the other half of your soul.”

“Soulmates!” May exclaims, proud of herself for knowing the word.

“Exactly,” her dad agrees. “Somewhere on this planet, there’s a person with the other half of your soul. When you meet that person, you’ll know because their name always appears on your wrist. And usually, soulmates fall in love. Often they get married and live happily ever after too,” he explains. 

May’s eyes are huge and they sparkle as fairy tale visions dance in her mind. “Does Mummy have your name Daddy?” she asks. 

Norman nods. “Your mother and I are very lucky,” he replies. “Sometimes, there are people who never find their soulmate or they find their soulmates too late. Sometimes people find their soulmate, but their soulmate has someone else’s name.”

“Then what happens?” May asks urgently. 

“Well, those are the unhappy endings Sweetheart. Your mother and I were lucky enough to match together and we love each other very much,” Norman continues. 

“Did Mummy’s name appear right away?”

“Actually, no,” her dad continues. “Most people’s marks don’t appear until they get to know their soulmate so they can really bond.”

May runs her tiny fingers over her mother’s name and then looks up at her father once again. “Will I find my soulmate Daddy?”

Her father smiles and runs his fingers along her side, tickling her, and May laughs. “I don’t know Sweetie, but if you don’t, your daddy will be here to love you anyways. Now I believe it’s time for you to go to sleep now,” he says, lifting her off his lap. “I’ll see you in the morning May-May.”

May grins one last time at her father before running off to bed, visions of her soulmate dancing in her mind. She imagines him as a handsome prince who would sweep her off her feet and love her forever. 

-

When May is eight, she decides she hates Pokémon. They scare her, and she’s not eager to depart the comfort of home to travel with a creature from her nightmares. In her mind, there’s no way that anyone would be able to trick her into traveling with a Pokémon, no matter what. 

She hasn’t met her soulmate yet, but she’s okay with that. She has lots of life left and maybe her prince is out looking for her at that very moment. Maybe he lost his map and is making a quick stop to find a new one. None of her friends have a soulmate either, so it’s not like there’s a big rush to find hers. 

She turns her nose up at Max’s books of Pokémon and wild adventures. May’s perfectly happy at home and that’s where she’ll stay. But her little brother has fallen in love with the world inside his books and it seems like everywhere May looks, her parents have found more adventures for Max to read and they tell him stories and slowly, May thinks she falls in love too. 

Where Max’s infatuation is for the Pokémon and the creatures that live in these worlds, May’s is for the sense of adventure and the wind in her face. Still, the thought of living with all those Pokémon is scary, and May still doesn’t want to leave. As she pronounces this to her parents, Max gets even more books. 

-

Her father takes it upon himself to make sure that when May turns 10 in three months, she’ll be leaving on a journey of her own. He introduces her to his cutest and sweetest Normal types-the ones that usually captivate girls her age-but May still won’t have any of it. He tries with pictures and stories of his own youth, but May refuses to like Pokémon. 

He then tries with journeys. He has more luck this way; May is enamoured with his stories about his travels and all the cool places he got to go, but she’s no closer to leaving on her tenth birthday then she was before. Caroline tries too, but May is stubborn. 

In the end, it is her childhood fantasies that break her resolve. Her mother reminds her that she met May’s dad on her journey. Her father chimes in that May’s unlikely to find her Prince Charming if she hangs around in Petalburg for her whole life. They encourage her to travel and they promise that she’ll meet a Pokémon she loves and that it will all work out. 

-

With a promise that she can return home at any time if she still hates Pokémon, May leaves to meet Professor Birch three months after her tenth birthday. She’s excited for the journey and she’s determined to find her Prince Charming in the meantime. She thinks he got lost on his own journey, so it’s her turn to go find him. 

She finds it ironic that it is the first day of her journey that she meets Ash, because he changes everything. First off, he fries her bike, which leaves her out of a mode of travel. Second, he encourages her with Torchic, no matter how scared she is. Third, he has a bond with his Pikachu that May can only marvel at, and maybe Pokémon aren’t quite as scary as they seemed to be. Lastly, Ash Ketchum doesn’t have a soulmate and doesn’t even really seem to care about finding his. 

At the end of the day, May is off on her journey with her new friend Ash, and her little brother Max, and she’s a little more ready to face the world. 

-

May grows into Pokémon. She trains with Torchic, catches new partners and stumbles into contests. At the end of the day, contests make everything worth it. She thinks she’s found her calling. She doesn’t start off very good, but with some reassurance, May is determined to become a good coordinator. 

Ash, Brock, and Max are all very supportive. Ash has never seen a contest before Hoenn, and he prefers competitive battling, but he agrees that it’s a very good fit for May, who’s not a fan of battling completely with power and strength. He’s still working to open her up to new types of Pokémon and she’s getting better. 

At first, May wishes so badly for her mark to appear and wishes for it to be Ash’s name. There’s never been an Ash in her life before, and though her crush is a little childish, it’s the only thing she knows. It’s been a month since they left Petalburg and Ash has already changed May’s Pokémon-hating nature. Over the phone, her mother calls it a miracle. 

May sticks to her gut. Ash will be her soulmate. He just doesn’t know it yet. 

-

May continues coordinating and Ash continues battling the gyms and their whole group continues traveling. May meets all sorts of people along the way. She gains new friends and, as she would come to call him, a new rival. 

Based on their first meeting, May really doesn’t like Drew. He’s arrogant and she’s jealous of his strength and coordinating prowess. He criticizes her and offers nothing good to say about her appeal. He defeats her in the battle rounds and May vows that she’ll beat him the next time they battle. 

Drew is amused; he is so sure that he’ll never lose to a beginner like May. She’s so determined to prove him wrong. 

-

When she meets Misty, May realizes the truth: there’s only one person who could ever be Ash’s soulmate, and it’s not her. The redhead is wonderful and nice, if a touch violent and feisty, but May’s still saddened by her. She had been so sure that it was Ash, but now there is absolutely no way she’s right because Ash looks at Misty in a way that is very much different from how he looks at May. 

-

May decides to stop worrying about her soulmate for a while. She focuses on her coordinating and on her Pokémon and she starts to love traveling. She runs into more friends and rivals and it seems like the world is on the right track and headed in the right direction. 

-

In Fallarbor Town, May finally gets the real boost she needs because she beats Drew. Maybe it’s indirectly because Drew doesn’t lose to her, but May beats Grace and wins the ribbon and she’s never felt more alive and in sync with her Pokémon.

After the contest, Drew presents May with a rose, and she can’t help but feel that this is falling into a routine of theirs. This time, she doesn’t let him explain his reasoning, and her tone is light and teasing as she asks if it was for her Beautifly. His response puzzles her because he’s vague and she has to wonder if it, or the previous two roses were even for her Beautifly. 

When Drew leaves, May feels a tingle in her gut that spreads to her fingertips, but she’s not sure what she’s supposed to think of it. 

-

May doesn’t think much of her soulmate these days because her friends and her Pokémon are more important. She doesn’t think about a Prince Charming coming to sweep her off her feet anymore because she’s found her own footing and she’s not the same naïve, little girl that she was growing up on her mother’s stories of soulmates and true love. 

-

Drew has his five ribbons and May only has four. There’s one contest left, he informs her, and May promises that she’ll meet him at the Grand Festival. Before he can slip away like he always does, May asks him for a battle and it’s an offer that he can’t refuse. There’s a tingle in her stomach again and this time May dismisses it as a spark from their rivalry. 

They battle, but it doesn’t get far because Team Rocket it always interrupting and then somehow they end up stranded, together, on Mirage Island with no idea where Ash, Max, or Brock are. Roderick appears and saves them from their bickering and May thinks she’s dealt with quite enough of her arrogant rival for a while. 

Then the cliff gives out beneath their feet and they’re falling and the only thought in her mind is that they’re both going to die. Bellsprout’s vine isn’t quite long, or strong enough to hold both their weight and May loses her grip. She and Drew hit the water together, their hands still firmly locked together. 

The current rips them apart and May comes up gasping, her lungs burning. The water stings her eyes and roars in her ears, but she doesn’t know where Drew is and she has to find him. “Drew!” she calls out desperately, using what air she has in her lungs to call for him. 

His hand somehow finds hers as they fight the current and her blue eyes find his green ones. They struggle to stay above water thanks to the buffeting current and Roderick is yelling for them from above. May’s not a super strong swimmer and she’s scared. Drew grips her arm tightly, trying to support them both. Finally when they manage to hear Roderick’s voice over the river, it’s too late to even think straight. 

“There’s a waterfall dead ahead!” the old man calls. 

Panic seizes May and she tightens her own grip on Drew. If they didn’t die before, they certainly will now. They go over clutched to each other, but again, the impact from the water separates them and May comes up alone, choking on the spray of water. She yells for Drew again, and this time he doesn’t find her. 

Fear freezes her veins and her wrist starts throbbing, but May can’t get rid of the fear that Drew is drowning and she has to help him. She pushes through the river, searching for any flash of green and when she sees him, he’s unmoving and facedown in the water. Her arm winds around him and she turns his face out of the water. His weight almost drags them down right away, but the current actually manages to keep pulling them along above water. 

Her heart is pounding in her ears and they might die yet, but there’s a tiny, dark part of May that takes comfort in the fact that she would do so with Drew. But, then the Pokémon appear and they chain together and grab May, pulling both her and Drew out of the river. 

The strange Pokémon lift Drew up and start carrying him away. Panic slices through May and she runs after them on shaky legs, never letting her rival out of her sights. They carry Drew to a cave and May drops to her knees next to him. She takes his pulse with quivering fingers. He’s alive and relief courses through May. 

She notices, as she watches him in unconsciousness, that his wrists are bare. No mysterious girl’s name is scrawled by his hand in neat black cursive and for some reason May is disappointed and relieved. She chalks it up to her being thankful that she’s not the only one who hasn’t found her soulmate yet. 

When he wakes up, his green hair is a mess and his eyes are glazed with confusion, but May’s heart is doing acrobatics and she has no idea why. They are actually getting along for once and the Wynaut are absolute sweethearts. In some moments, May’s glad that the Wynaut are there so it isn’t just her and her rival. 

Naturally, since Team Rocket was the one who made them end up on the island in the first place, they’re the once who interrupt and May somehow finds herself inside a vacuum container filled with stolen berries. She bangs on the glass and looks down at Drew. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen her rival look more furious. And when his Roselia frees her later, she doesn’t think he’s ever looked more heroic and then when he’s leaving, she’s blushing and she doesn’t know why. 

-

And then they’re facing off in the Grand Festival. May hadn’t thought differently of Drew after Mirage Island, but clearly he has thought differently about her. As they stare each other down from across the pitch, she recalls the way he had protected her from Harley earlier in the Festival.

Then Drew calls forth a Pokémon May has never seen before. He raised this Flygon specifically to battle her and she’s flattered and scared. 

-

She loses the battle, but it teaches her patience and she watches him in the finals. Unfortunately, it isn’t Drew’s time because Robert comes out on top and neither May nor her rival have walked away with a Ribbon Cup this time. 

Drew doesn’t show up to the closing ceremonies and while May is wandering around, she sees him on the beach. His Masquerain looks strong as usual and she asks him why he he’s still out here training despite the festivities going on to celebrate Robert’s victory. 

They don’t talk much, but with the sun setting in the background and the stars appearing in the sky above them, the whole atmosphere feels very romantic. May finds herself wondering about Drew’s roses. And then the tingling in her wrist returns as Drew waves and walks away and this time, it doesn’t just go away. It flares into a burn and May grips her arm in surprise. 

Her friends find her not long after Drew had left and her mother teases her about the redness tingeing her cheeks. May turns away and denies it hotly, but a curious glance at her arm tells her that her mom isn’t far off. 

While the writing isn’t inked in black like it is for her parents, there’s no denying the name written in translucent ink on May’s wrist. She traces it later and wonders how this all came to be to have her sitting in Hoenn after the Grand Festival, tracing the name of her biggest rival. Under her touch, the ink darkens to a grey colour, but as soon as her hand move it’s barely visible against her pale skin. 

-

She hides the mark under her glove and only the final curve of the ‘w’ pokes out, but it is hard to notice unless you are really looking for it. 

-

A couple months later, they’re traveling in Kanto and Misty has joined them again temporarily. Max turns in to read, and Brock to sleep. It’s just Ash and the two girls sitting under the stars next to the fire for a bit, but then Pikachu pulls Ash towards his tent and he also turns in for the night. 

There’s an unsettling silence between the two girls and May can almost feel Misty’s prickling distrust. It has to do with Ash, May figures. So she tugs down her glove and exposes the name she keeps hidden at all times to the redhead. Misty’s eyes lock on it and she has to squint to read what the pale lettering says. 

“It was at the end of the Hoenn Grand Festival,” May rambles quietly. “We were on the beach after out battle, talking. There was this weird tingling feeling and then it was burning. I didn’t notice there was a name until later in the evening. I don’t know why it’s so faint considering most marks are really dark and obvious.”

Misty doesn’t say anything for a moment before she tugs up her sleeve, revealing a dark mark etched into her skin. May reads it and she’s not surprised. The first time she met Misty, she knew that she would be Ash’s soulmate and to see his name is a confirmation of everything she’d been thinking. But Ash’s name is dark and prominent, whereas Drew’s is faded and almost invisible. 

“Maybe you haven’t had your real moment with him yet,” Misty offers quietly, pulling her sleeve back down over Ash’s name. “Just don’t hold off on telling him for too long, otherwise it might be too late.” Misty pauses, like she doesn’t want to continue, but she does. “Do you know if he has...” she trails off, but May understands her meaning. 

She shakes her head. “I don’t know, I’m sorry,” she apologizes gently. 

Misty sighs and May wraps an arm around the older girl’s shoulders. The redhead puts her head on May’s shoulder and she cries. May finds herself crying too, but it’s mostly for Misty’s sake. They talk a little bit more about Ash, and May talks a little about Drew, but it’s pretty much the end of their conversation.

-

May tries to catch a glimpse of Drew’s wrist when they’re battling for the Arcanine, but his sleeves cover his wrists well and she’s out of luck. It’s the same case for every time they have a run in during the Kanto Contest Circuit. 

She does notice that every time that she’s with Drew, his name darkens so it’s almost grey, but when he leaves, and he always does, it goes back to the way it was before. When Drew doesn’t mention anything, May is disappointed. 

-

She gathers her five ribbons and meets him again in the battle rounds of the Grand Festival. This time, May is the winner and when they shake hands after a battle well fought, she resists the urge to shove up his sleeve to see his arm. Instead she thanks him for the match and readies herself to face off against Solidad. 

-

She loses to Solidad, and she was kind of expecting it. What she isn’t expecting is the rose from Solidad and then the rush outside to see Drew waiting for her. He gives her one of his famous half-smiles and tells her that he’ll see her later. Her arm tingles and she tightens her grip on the rose, promising that she’ll beat him next time too. He waves and her wrist is still tingling. 

A glance at it later reveals that the mark is darker, but it’s still not black like Misty’s was, or like her parents’ are. 

-

May enters a funk. She tries to pull herself out of it for Ash’s sake, since he’s preparing to challenge the Battle Pyramid, but she finds herself unable to. In Fennel Valley she even starts to contemplate quitting coordinating to head back home since Ash had already expression intentions of traveling again after he beats Brandon, but it was time for Max to go home and Brock wanted to as well. She’s weighing the pros and cons when he stops in and challenges her to a battle. 

Drew ends up winning, but they both know he’s done enough to relight May’s fire. 

They’re talking outside later-May’s sitting and Drew’s standing against the fence-and the sun is setting. Drew tells May that he’s going to Johto, and she begins to entertain the thought herself. She looks up at him and notices, in surprise, that his sleeve has ridden up a little, and the beginning of a dark flick is visible on his arm. It’s dark like Misty’s and May is startled. 

She can’t see the full name, but she’s a bit conflicted now that she knows there is one. 

When Harley interrupts, May’s flustered and shy and suddenly painfully aware of a throbbing in her wrist and the romantic atmosphere between her and her rival. After Drew leaves, and Harley, May sneaks a glance under her glove and now her mark is as dark as anyone else’s and she realizes: that was their moment and now she really has to go to Johto.

-

She finds it tricky to hide from Drew and Harley, but impossible to hide from Solidad. The elder coordinator is nameless, but she picks up on May having Drew, right away. She assures May that Drew feels the same way, but May has her doubts. In four years, Drew has not said a word to her, but May doesn’t voice her thoughts to her friend. 

-

When she goes to Sinnoh for the Wallace Cup, and sees Ash again, May meets Dawn and feels like she is looking at herself from four years ago. Dawn likes Ash, but in an innocent fashion, and May takes it upon herself to help Misty. The two girls are talking one night and May blurts out that someone else has Ash’s name.

“Is her name Misty?” Dawn asks, blue eyes big. May can only nod and Dawn laughs. “I figured that much. He talks about her a lot.” 

May smiles and fiddles with the glove that hides her own secret. Dawn taps her hand lightly, watching her carefully and curiously. 

“You’ve got a secret of your own I see,” she points out. 

May bites her lip and peels off the glove, showing off her name. It seems funny to see it so dark, but it makes it feel more normal. Dawn freaks out, saying that she knows who Drew is and that she didn’t know May knew him and that they would be a super cute couple. May has to cut her off, laughing, because they’re not a couple because Drew doesn’t know. 

-

May is sixteen when she competes in her third Grand Festival and she is sixteen when her Pokémon battle hard and she fells Solidad in the semi-finals to earn her spot in the finals. Ironically, Drew faces off against Harley in the other semi-final match, and May doesn't need to watch to know the outcome. 

-

May is sixteen when she walks onto the stage and hears a cheer so loud that her ears ring. The atmosphere of the stadium is electric and she breathes it in. Her eyes wander across the field to catch Drew's and there's a smoldering fire in his eyes that May knows is reflected in her own. Six years of rivalry, three regions, and two talented coordinators. 

They've been ready for this for their entire lives. 

-

In the end, only one of them can walk away a champion, and after a long grueling battle and an overtime segment, a victor is crowned. 

The buzzing of the stadium is overwhelming and May lets her eyes fall shut. Blackthorn isn't a particularly large city, and May feels like the whole town is here right now. 

And as the crowds chant a name that May knows so well, she opens her eyes and steps back out of Drew's spotlight. 

He's still surprised, but he's happy-ecstatic-and May is proud to have lost to him. Six years was an awful long time to be rivals, and what an accumulation of skill it was in their final battle. Today, May did not come out on top, but there was no doubt that she could have and that's what's important. 

She watches through a grainy monitor in the locker room as Drew is presented with his Ribbon Cup. He, Absol and Flygon at his side, raises it up and smiles as brightly as May has ever seen. 

The camera jolts suddenly before it zooms in on the Ribbon Cup before following Drew's fingers to his hand and his hand to his wrist and his exposed wrist to the name clearly visible. However, he's too far away for a good quality shot, and the monitor doesn't help, so May, and the rest of the world, is unable to read the name. 

-

This time, it's May who doesn't stick around after the festival is over and she's not looking for Drew. Her bags are packed and she's headed home for a while. From there, she'll pick a new destination. 

She thinks back to when she was a girl and she wanted nothing more than to wait around at home for her soulmate to stumble upon her. Now, she's been traveling for six years with Pokémon she considers best friends, she has experienced so many new and exciting places and things, and she found her soulmate all by herself. 

It's ironic that her parents got her to leave their house saying that she would find her soulmate, and that she could come home if she hated Pokémon, but here she is, headed home to avoid her soulmate because she loves her Pokémon. It's not lost on her as May casts Olivine, the port city, one last glance and a small smile. 

She's done chasing Drew. If he's her soulmate, it's time for him to do the chasing. 

-

May spends a couple months at home, helping out her parents and telling them stories. She wears her gloves around them and refused to mention Drew, keeping it very neutral when they asked about him and the Grand Festival finals. 

It's weirdly quiet around her house with just the three of them, but Max left last year to go on his own journey, with the intentions of be coming a champion instead of finding his lost soulmate. May, as much as she hates to admit it, misses her little brother. They may have fought, but he is a person May trusts wholeheartedly. 

In the three months she spends at home, May talks with practically everybody except Drew. In fact, no one has talked to Drew and the media has been freaking out since the new Top Coordinator practically vanished!

Soon enough, home is feeling too cramped so May gathers her things, her new bicycle, and her Pokémon and she goes. 

-

She starts in the Sevii Islands. From there it's the Orange Islands and then the Whirl Islands in Johto and she's back in Sinnoh seeing places in the south where she hadn't gone before. 

May spends two more years just wandering, training and discovering herself. She loved coordinating, still does, but really, her sense of adventure was what dragged her out originally, so she feeds the flames. 

Alola is next on her list, but the new region is just a little warmer, balmier, and more tropical than Hoenn, so it's too close to home and she leaves. Her short stay confuses the floatplane pilot, but he doesn't question her as he flies her into Undella Town, Unova. 

The Unova League had just finished so the region felt a lot less crowded than it might have if she'd been here more recently. Ash had been here, May knows because Dawn told her when Dawn had visited. At the moment, Ash is apparently off doing some fancy cruise with his new friends and May thinks of Misty, and Dawn and the others Ash left behind. 

And then, May thinks of Drew. 

And as abruptly as she arrives, she leaves. 

-

Hoenn is her home. May has been all around the world, but Hoenn is her home. And with all that she has waiting back there, May is eighteen when she treks towards the mountain looming over Johto, not quite ready to return home. 

She hasn't competed in a contest in two years, and neither has Drew. She wonders more often now, where he ended up, and if he ever spoke with his soulmate. 

May has stopped wearing the gloves. Fewer people will recognize her face now, especially here, and she finds herself unable to care if people find out. 

-

May approaches Mount Silver from the west, ready to cross into Kanto in the most adventurous way possible. The wild Pokémon are tough and sometimes they're too tough to handle. It's chilly, even in the summer, and she retreats to caves at Blaziken's side at night and she falls asleep tracing the name that has haunted her for years. 

May's only there for six days before she happens across another soul. This girl has chestnut hair, emerald eyes and a soul that has not been exposed to other people in a very long time. May wishes Leaf well in finding Gary, and she wonders if it's the same Gary that Ash knows and then maybe, this is also the same Leaf who hid away on Mount Silver. 

Like clockwork, it's another six days after Leaf has gone that May finds another person. 

He looks older, different, and still like the same person she remembers him as. He has another new partner-a Houndoom-at his side and May rubs her wrist subconsciously when they first catch sight of each other. 

However, he's on the other side of a waterfall and there's no way to clear the water, but there are two tunnels before them that have to lead to the same place. So green eyes meeting blue, May feels the familiar challenge in his expression and they submerge into the depths of the mountain. 

-

Nineteen hours is what it takes them. Mount Silver is a maze and it takes most people days or even weeks to find their way out, but May follows the thrumming in her stomach and the beat of her heart and she finds him, and he find her, in nineteen hours. 

At first they can do nothing but marvel at each other. They've both hidden from the public eye for two years, and now they're both here. They don't say a word, and Blaziken and Houndoom make not a sound. 

May cracks first and she throws herself into him. Her arms wind around his neck and her face buries into his collarbone and she trembles in his grip. His arms tighten around her and his nose touches her hair. Neither of them moves; they just feel each other breathe. 

-

According to Drew's PokéNav, it's nighttime, so they set up camp together and stare into a flickering fire in the gloom of the cave. 

"You disappeared," she starts. They're the first real words of conversation uttered. 

"So did you," he rebukes. 

"I went home," May corrects. "I didn't hide myself from the world."

"You forget," he points out, "that neither of us has been in the contest circuit for two years. I think that counts as hiding." 

May's eyes flutter shut and she breathes deeply. "I wasn't hiding from the world," she corrects. "I was hiding for a different reason." She stops short, but Drew says nothing and when her eyes open, his are locked to her. "I was hiding from the pressure, from the adrenaline, and from people like you who would bring it all back before I could blink," she finishes softly. 

"And I won a Ribbon Cup and lost the only person I could have considered sticking around for," Drew replies evenly. 

Due to the close proximity to the fire, Drew's sleeves are rolled up and his name would be visible if she just looked. May has been careful to block his own view of his name. 

"I spent two years chasing wild leads on you," Drew continues. 

His emerald irises burn into her sapphire ones and she twists her wrist so that his name is visible in the firelight. Her eyes finally betray her and stray to his own mark and she sees a name she can write backwards, forwards, upside down, and with her eyes closed. Drew reads his own name silently, and May knows he understands. 

"It was on Mirage Island," he begins. "It was after we fell in the river and I couldn't let you drown. My arm started burning and I had no idea why. I woke up with you crouched over me and I felt dizzy. My whole body was buzzing and my hand was numb. Then Team Rocket came and you were taken accidentally and then my hand was on fire. I didn’t notice it until we were on the boat on the way back, but your name had appeared.”

Drew pauses and May internally compares their stories; Drew got his name first, but their reactions had been similar. 

“At first, it was faint enough to almost be missable, but every time I saw you it got a little darker,” he explains. “And soon enough, it filled out completely. I’m not even sure when it did that exactly, but I just knew it did.”

When he finishes, May looks down at her wrist and at his name. “After Hoenn’s Grand Festival when we were on the beach,” she begins slowly. “That’s when it first appeared, but it was almost invisible, like yours was. It stayed like that for all of Kanto, only getting a little darker when you were around, but it always changed back. Then, in Fennel Valley, it changed for good.”

They sit in silence after May finishes explaining, letting the crackle of the fire fill the cavern. 

“Well,” Drew interrupts. “Perhaps a little more talking is long overdue.”

May looks at him and presses her lips into a thin line. “What do you want me to say? Hi Drew, we’re soulmates and I’ve been in love with you since before I was twelve and we’re destined to be together!” Her voice is a touch sharp, but Drew doesn’t flinch; he doesn’t even move. 

“A simple ‘I love you’ would have sufficed,” he replies. 

The firelight is glowing in front of them and May watches the reflection of it dance in his eyes. Suddenly Drew’s drawing nearer to her and even though her heart is pounding, May drawing nearer to him too. 

“Hey May, we’re soulmates and I’ve been in love with you since I was eleven,” Drew teases lightly. His voice is soft, but between it and the close proximity and the atmosphere of the fire, May’s a goner.

Drew’s hand finds her jaw and May’s arms are around his neck and then they’re kissing. May tingles from her lips to her toes and even though her wrist is burning, she doesn’t move. Drew is like her oxygen and she breathes him in and in the firelight of the cave, no matter what the future holds, she’s never going to let go because they’re soulmates and this moment took entirely too long.

If they will return to the coordinating world, May can’t say, but she loves Drew and he loves her and the whole world, in that moment, is within reach.

**Author's Note:**

> And I didn't lie when I said you might even get this today! If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't read Sand, and you really should (it's on FFN and my name is The People Speak) if you liked this. I had an urging to write more contestshipping, and I also wanted to write more Soulmate AUs, so I decided to expand on the world from the companion piece, Pieces of a Whole, (also on FFN) which is a Pokéshipping take on this Soulmate idea.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, and I hope you'll check out my other stories.
> 
> Fanfiction: The People Speak  
> AO3: nicole_writes
> 
> -Nicole


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